Wilcox's Paul M. Rosa (2) runs the ball for a gain against Menlo-Atherton's Thomas Taufui (30) in the first quarter of their Central Coast Section Open Division I championship football game at Independence High in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 30, 2018. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox's Gabe Herrera (33) runs the ball for a gain against Menlo-Atherton in the first quarter of their Central Coast Section Open Division I championship football game at Independence High in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 30, 2018. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox's Gabe Herrera (33) runs the ball for a gain against Menlo-Atherton in the first quarter of their Central Coast Section Open Division I championship football game at Independence High in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 30, 2018. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox's Isaiah Flores (5) celebrates a fumble recovery against Menlo-Atherton in the second quarter of their Central Coast Section Open Division I championship football game at Independence High in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 30, 2018. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox's Paul M. Rosa (2) heads for the end zone and touchdown against Menlo-Atherton's Feleti Malupo (2) in the second quarter of their Central Coast Section Open Division I championship football game at Independence High in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 30, 2018. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox's Jacob Dominguez (10) celebrates after his team scores a touchdown in the fourth quarter of their Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division game versus at Milpitas High School on Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. Wilcox would go on to win the game 28-7 over Milpitas. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Milpitas' Deonte Taylor (1), center, gets tackled by Wilcox defenders in the third quarter of their Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division game at Milpitas High School on Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox quarterback Alex Adame (9), right, throws a pass while being pressured by Milpitas' Dylan Sualua (33), left, in the third quarter of their Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division game at Milpitas High School on Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox's Gabe Herrera (33), center, raises the ball in the air after scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter of their Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division game versus Milpitas at Milpitas High School on Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. Wilcox would go on to win the game 28-7 over Milpitas. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox's Gabe Herrera (33), left, celebrates with teammate Isaiah Flores (5), right, in the fourth quarter of their Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division game versus Milpitas at Milpitas High School on Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. Wilcox would go on to win the game 28-7 over Milpitas. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox's Ray Orozco (20), right, hugs teammate Robert Padilla (15), left, after their Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division game win over Milpitas at Milpitas High School on Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. Wilcox would win the game 28-7 over Milpitas. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox's Gabe Herrera (33) runs for a long touchdown run in the fourth quarter of their Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division game versus Milpitas at Milpitas High School on Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. Wilcox would go on to win the game 28-7 over Milpitas. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox Chargers coaching staff celebrate after stopping the Milpitas Trojans one fourth down in the second quarter of their Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division game at Milpitas High School on Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox's Ray Orozco (20) tries to listen for a play in the second quarter of their Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division game versus Milpitas at Milpitas High School on Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Milpitas quarterback Jacob Vargas (11) gets tackled after fumbling and recovering a ball by Wilcox's Alejandro J Brizuela (14) in the first quarter of their Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division game at Milpitas High School on Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Milpitas' Deonte Taylor (1), center, gets tackled by Wilcox defenders in the first quarter of their Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division game at Milpitas High School on Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Milpitas' Israel Gil (10), left, catches a deep ball while being covered by Wilcox's Aaron Ah Sing (8), right, in the second quarter of their Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division game at Milpitas High School on Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox quarterback Alex Adame (9), center, fumbles the ball while being tackled by Milpitas' Josue Torres (20), right, in the second quarter of their Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division game at Milpitas High School on Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox quarterback Alex Adame (9) runs in for a touchdown in the first quarter of their Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division game versus Milpitas at Milpitas High School on Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox's Isaiah Flores (5), center, runs away from Milpitas defenders in the second quarter of their Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division game at Milpitas High School on Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox's Isaiah Flores (5) places his hands on his head after missing a catch in the fourth quarter of their conference game versus Palo Alto at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday, Sep. 28, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Palo Alto's Paul Thie (11) jumps to make a catch while being defended by Wilcox's Nick Malvini (4), left, in the third quarter of their conference game at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday, Sep. 28, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox's Paul M Rosa (2) leaps in the air to celebrate after scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter of their conference game versus Palo Alto at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday, Sep. 28, 2018. The Chargers would go on to beat the Vikings 35-21. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

The Wilcox Chargers celebrate after defeating the Palo Alto Vikings 35-21 at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday, Sep. 28, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox's Diego Castillo (24), center, celebrates with teammate Wilcox's Ryan Cooper Jr. (1), right, in the fourth quarter of their conference game versus Palo Alto at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday, Sep. 28, 2018. The Chargers would go on to beat the Vikings 35-21. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox's Paul M Rosa (2) catches a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter of their conference game versus Palo Alto at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday, Sep. 28, 2018. The Chargers would go on to beat the Vikings 35-21. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox's Paul M Rosa (2) tries to get away from a Palo Alto defender in the second quarter of their conference game at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday, Sep. 28, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Palo Alto quarterback Jackson Chryst (9), right, gets tackled by a pair of Wilcox defenders in the second quarter of their conference game at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday, Sep. 28, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Wilcox quarterback Alex Adame (9), left, avoids a tackle from Palo Alto's Colin Giffen (20), right, in the second quarter of their conference game at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday, Sep. 28, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group

Wilcox's Paul M Rosa (2) runs down the sideline in the first quarter of their conference game versus the Palo Alto Vikings at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday, Sep. 28, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

SANTA CLARA — On the Monday after his team’s only loss this season, Wilcox coach Paul Rosa sensed his players were not right, the crushing defeat still too fresh.

The next day, Rosa called off practice, got some meat and grilled for the boys.

Recharged from falling just short of winning the Central Coast Section Open Division I title, Wilcox regrouped, found itself in another tight game Saturday night and this time held on to hoist a championship trophy.

Eight days after watching a 21-point lead disappear in a 33-28 loss to Menlo-Atherton, the Chargers had a keepsake all teams having a great season covet.

This week, they’ll have a chance for another.

The longest season in school history — a four-month march in which the Chargers have won 13 games and lost just the one — will end Saturday night when they play host to Kaiser-Fontana for the 3-A state championship.

Kaiser is 14-1 and led by 6-foot, 190-pound senior Christian Hunter, who has rushed for 3,635 yards and 54 touchdowns this season.

Wilcox will counter with its 1-2 punch of Paul M. Rosa — the coach’s son — and Gabe Herrera, who have rushed for a combined 2,801 yards and 38 touchdowns (19 apiece).

But just to be clear, Wilcox has not reached this grand finale because of two players or major-college prospects. The Chargers have done it the old-school way, appropriate given that they are one of the few Bay Area schools that still play on natural grass.

“We’re not a very big team,” the older Rosa said. “Our linebackers are like 155, 160. But we have a lot of good high school football players. Not a ton of great, D-I-type talent. Just a lot of good, tough kids. That’s the best story about our team. We’re just a bunch of tough, neighborhood kids that have played together for a long time and know each other really well and have bought in to what we’re trying to do — and it’s worked out.”

For three-plus months, it worked out perfectly. Wilcox opened the season with an eye-opening 10-6 victory at home over Valley Christian, which went on to win a CCS title, and used the result as a springboard to an undefeated regular season and top seed in the CCS Open Division I bracket.

The Chargers seemed well on their way to winning the section title, too, leading Menlo-Atherton 21-0 in the first half and 28-14 in the fourth quarter. But four fourth-quarter turnovers and seven for the game derailed Wilcox in excruciating fashion.

The loss didn’t end the season, though.

Wilcox qualified for a regional as an Open Division runner-up — a perk that the California Interscholastic Federation will not allow starting next fall — and took advantage of the opportunity by holding off previously undefeated Capital Christian-Sacramento 34-30 for a Northern California championship, an outcome that took a lot of resolve for the Chargers given the state of the team earlier in the week.

“It was hard,” the elder Rosa said. “We practiced on Monday and they were down and out still. Not only mentally, but it was one of the most physical games we played in. To have your first loss in that game and then not only to get mentally beat up but physically beat up, it was a rough Monday.”

Ryan Cooper, a standout receiver and defensive back, concurred.

“Right after we lost, I felt the season kind of came to an end,” he said. “We went so far and to go to the championship game 12-0 and lose, it really took a lot out of me. But after coach Rosa gave us a speech and we talked about it, I felt like our whole team rallied up again and got ready for Capital Christian.”

The Capital Christian game was tense from beginning to end and not decided until the Chargers made a defensive stand in the final minute.

“It meant a lot,” linebacker Roan Poulivaati said.

Two days later, a substitute teacher arrived on the Wilcox campus and asked how the football season went?

“We’re still going,” the elder Rosa said. “Nobody is playing on Dec. 15. I was telling our staff, you guys have had a pretty good year when De La Salle’s season is over and yours isn’t. That never happens.”

(De La Salle lost to Mater Dei on Saturday in the Open Division state title game.)

No matter what unfolds for Wilcox this Saturday, it will always have last weekend’s celebration, a moment the head coach so badly wanted for this group.

“It was extremely important because it would have been rough going 12-0 and not having that moment at least once,” the elder Rosa said. “Even though you have a great year and win your league — you’re in a good league and you win it — you always kind of remember those last few games and not the whole entirety of the season. To win that game was big for us because our kids deserved at least one of those moments for the season that they had.”

Saturday night, they can do it all over again.

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Darren Sabedra is a sports reporter and the high school sports editor, overseeing prep coverage throughout the Bay Area. He's been with the Bay Area News Group since the early 1990s and has covered many sports beats, including Stanford football and basketball, pro baseball and the NFL.